Kindle Edition Amazon Amazon.com Category:  Action/Thriller Publisher: Hot Gates Press, LLC ISBN-10:  0996587837 Type: Fiction Pages: 345 Copyright: January 5,2016 ISBN-13: 9780996587822 Price: $3.99 (eBook) When false domestic violence charges rob Martin Silkwood of everyone and everything he holds dear, the successful CPA and devoted dad is determined to get his former life back. But to do so, he's going to need highly specialized help from a mysterious group of covert social reformers. And they have ideas, and demands, of their own. "Kramer vs. Kramer" Meets "Mission Impossible" in this Legal-Suspense / Spy Thriller about the perils of modern-day divorce. Who Are the Reform Artists? That's the question plaguing Martin Silkwood, successful CPA and devoted dad, as his life spirals out of control. Martin has one week in which to prove he's innocent of the domestic violence charges his estranged wife, Katie, has brought against him. If he fails, he could lose everything. Martin can either play by the rules, trusting in a legal system that presumes he's guilty, or he can accept help from a shadow organization that will go to extremes to achieve its ends. Either way, his life will never be the same. Follow the action as the clock ticks down to the final, courtroom showdown -- and stunning conclusion -- to this page-turning, legal thriller / spy novel.  Excerpt Chapter 1 The incident occurred at the D.C. Metro’s Farragut North stop, as Martin Silkwood boarded the northbound train for his return commute to Maryland. It ended as quickly as it began, and no one—save the participants—seemed to notice or care. But it would forever change Martin’s life. Martin had entered the subway car at the head of a surging crowd that heaved and pressed against him with the dumb force of an enormous beast. He was pushing back and maneuvering toward an empty seat, when a casually dressed man, with the look and bearing of a drill sergeant, suddenly sprang up, lurched forward and rammed into him. “Watch it!” the man barked, his steel-gray eyes underscoring the challenge. Martin recovered his balance, if not his senses, and pushed back hard. “No, you watch it!” For an instant, the two squared off. Then, as a faint smile appeared on the stranger’s face, his right arm shot forward, palm out, catching Martin square in the diaphragm. Martin doubled over in pain, gasping for air, as the stranger grabbed his arm and drew near. “I already have watched it, Martin,” he said under his breath. “Now, it’s your turn.” Then, he turned up the collar on his beige windbreaker and slipped out the door, disappearing into the crowd. Martin struggled to breathe as he dragged himself toward an empty seat. He swung his left arm wildly to clear a path and steadied himself by grabbing onto a nearby handrail with his right. When he finally reached the seat, he turned around and gingerly dropped into place. As he did, Martin felt something in his left pants pocket. Hand shaking, he dug in and retrieved a tiny video disk in a slim vinyl case. The disk was silver, unmarked and small—only half the diameter of the videos Martin normally played on his home entertainment system. “Huh,” he grunted to himself between steadily decreasing, but uneven, chest heaves. He flipped the disk over in his hand several times. He had no idea what it was, why the stranger had given it to him or how he had known his name. After a few moments, Martin put the disk away. He decided he would deal with it later, when he got home, but try as he might, he couldn’t get this latest incident out of his mind. Martin kept wondering if it somehow fit into the disturbing chain of events that had begun to unfold the previous Friday night, when he had returned home to an empty house—without Katie, the kids or the dog. All he had found was a brief note, in Katie’s handwriting, lying on the kitchen table. “I tried, Marty. Really, I did,” it read. “I’ll contact you when we get settled.” That was the last time he had heard from any of them. Martin spent all night Friday calling around to Katie’s friends. (He used to consider them his friends, too, but now he knew better.) Had they seen her and the kids? Did they know anything about where she had gone or what was up? Some of them, the nice ones, apologetically said they couldn’t discuss it. They had promised Katie to keep her whereabouts a secret, but they said everyone was safe, not to worry. Others, her “true sisters,” uttered startled, indignant gasps at the mere sound of his voice and then hung up the phone. The nastiest, most self-righteous ones said things like: “Really, Marty! Haven’t you caused enough trouble already? Leave her alone!”—or—“If you call here again, I’m going to report you to the police! Do you understand?” both of which were followed by a sudden resumption of the dial tone. Martin couldn’t believe these were the same women who had welcomed him and Katie into their homes for years on end, the same women who had joked with him, occasionally flirted with him, and who, once or twice, seemed to forget themselves and sent him signals he wisely chose to ignore. And, he wondered, where were their husbands—his supposed friends? Only one of them ever picked up the phone to say anything to him at all, and it went something like this: “Hey, Marty, I was sorry to hear about you and Katie. Let’s grab a beer sometime soon.” And then, when his wife realized he was speaking to Martin, “Oops, got to go now,” and again the damned dial tone. Martin wondered what Katie had been telling these people and how they could possibly believe her without first hearing his side of the story. But these thoughts quickly evaporated as Martin grasped, for the first time, the full impact of Katie’s decision. Disillusion turned to anger, fear and finally desperation as Martin realized that, in leaving him, Katie had stolen nearly everything that gave his life meaning: his children, his marriage and his home life. Of the three roles Martin dutifully performed each day, those of husband, father and breadwinner, only the later remained. Katie had left the one thing she couldn’t take: Martin’s senior partner position at the accounting firm of Findley, Feldman and Santori. Martin had earned senior partner status through years of hard work, self-discipline and self-sacrifice. While he drew some personal satisfaction from this, he found accounting work, in general, to be rather dull and unfulfilling. Martin had long ago realized that he did his job, day-in and day-out, primarily to pay the bills. His partner’s salary made possible the life and future he had been building for himself, Katie and the kids. Now that his marriage appeared to be unraveling, Martin felt the wind go out of his sails. He wondered where he would find the motivation to continue to put in the long hours and to suffer the painful deprivations that life on the road, as an auditing team leader, demanded. Deep down, Martin sensed he only had one option. Somehow, someway, he would have to get his children back in his life. He could not accept the harsh new reality Katie was forcing upon him. Despite this realization—or perhaps because of it—Martin had a hard time accepting the fact that his marriage to Katie was over. In the first place, her timing made no sense to him. Yes, they hadn’t been getting along that well lately, but only a few months earlier, when the trouble started, Katie had agreed to see a marriage counselor with him. They hadn’t even attended their first session yet! Why would she ‘throw in the towel’ now? Could she really walk away from our marriage − especially after starting a family and bringing two new lives into the world? Good parents—and Katie and I clearly are that—good parents don’t just ‘bag it’ when the going got rough, do they? The next day, Martin gained further insight into the depths of his problems, when an ATM machine rejected his debit card. The joint household account that previously held $9,600 now claimed to have insufficient funds to cover his one-hundred-dollar cash withdraw. As these thoughts once more flashed through his mind, Martin’s stomach began tying itself up in knots. He hated feeling this way, and since all he could do for now was spin mental wheels, he redoubled his efforts to put his troubles out of his mind. He decided to focus exclusively on his accounting work. That usually helped. Martin began by taking stock of preparations for the upcoming Great Plains Company audit and by mentally reviewing the members of his newly formed auditing team. Martin always handpicked his auditing crews. The following Thursday they would all fly out of Dulles airport to Chicago for an extensive review and compilation of the food processing giant’s books. There was so much to do. Gradually, ever so slowly, Martin slipped back into the endless sea of accounting management minutiae, and soon he found himself back in that numb, safe place his work often provided. Before he knew it, the train had reached his suburban Maryland stop, and he was crossing the parking lot to his car.

Reviewed by Maria Beltran for Readers' Favorite
In Jon Reisfeld’s The Reform Artists, Martin Silkwood has found himself in dire straits. His wife Katie has up and left their home in Maryland, taking with her the kids and even the family dog. Martin has no clue where his wife is or why she’s left. The only reason he could think of is that their marriage has been rough of late, but he is not convinced that it is enough for Katie to flee. Suddenly he is served a temporary restraining order forcing him out of their house on domestic violence charges made against him, which he vehemently denies. He has less than a week to prove his innocence, and he is offered some help from a secret group that goes to great lengths for their goals - but Martin has no guarantees that it would be worth the price he has to pay if he accepts.

An excellent legal thriller, The Reform Artists by Jon Reisfeld delivers and escalates at an exciting pace. It explores the other side of the coin in most divorce cases that are in themselves already chaotic. No one need be an expert in 'legalese' to enjoy the book. Although it may be an easy read, it is nonetheless emotionally charged; and as more information unfolds for Martin, the twists make the novel more and more riveting. Reisfeld makes good use of shortcomings in the judicial system to weave together a story that is not only entertaining, but also makes us wonder just how much the system flaws may actually be affecting people in real life. This is absolutely a book you will not be able to put down. An enjoyable read!

Reviewed by D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer Midwest Book Review
Books about divorce (even wrenching, conflicted ones) are nothing new to the market: Kramer vs. Kramer and many others have well followed the process and emotions involved in separation. What is new in The Reform Artists is a spy thriller and a courtroom drama that revolves around false allegations of domestic abuse. This book goes beyond interpersonal confrontation by blending the legal thriller format with the unique emotional challenges associated with high-conflict divorce tactics.

It opens with the bang of a thriller: Character Heather Barnes is speeding (and screaming) along streets in her car, as she panics over a precious cell phone call that cannot be made.

The next instant, news of a triple murder/suicide from an apparent case of domestic violence flashes across news screens. All has been lost, and events seem to constitute a cut-and-dried case - or, do they?

The pleasure in The Reform Artists is that nothing is as it seems. As in any superior, complex read, a host of seemingly disparate characters are introduced (here, in staccato-quick scenes) who at first seem to bear no relationship to one another. As events unwind, so do the lives, motivations, and personalities of everyone involved, with dissolving marriages and violence permeating a cast of characters destined to come together under the most unlikely of circumstances.

Business relationships gone awry, dubious contacts, husbands and wives and their attorneys, and approaches to resolution that more than skirt the law: All these elements are presented in a legal thriller and spy story that takes the domestic violence topic and turns it upside down.

Courtroom scenes and angry, scared men could easily have turned The Reform Artists into a legal thriller alone, but Reisfeld is careful to include the emotional twists that involve readers in character lives outside the courtroom: "Judge Farnsworth touched his throbbing cheek. He was no longer in his front hallway, but miles away, standing barefoot on a cold, dark street, still in his robe. He held a small, hastily stuffed suitcase in his right hand. He felt lost, ashamed — and alone."

Any action - even the most heinous of choices - can be explained by understanding the emotions and rationales behind them. The Reform Artists offers powerful testimony both to the legal process's finer art of examination and cross-examination and the hearts, minds, choices and logic of protagonists who try to find a way out of impossible circumstances.

All this makes for a powerful blend of legal proceeding and emotional revelation especially recommended for fans of Grisham who seek courtroom drama paired with intrigue and cemented by emotional connections throughout.